Heart attack risk doubles for daily e-cigarette users

Using e-cigarettes every day almost doubles the risk for myocardial infarction (MI), according to a study recently published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, and George Washington University in Washington, D.C., analyzed data from the 2014 and 2016 found that using both e-cigarettes and conventional cigarettes at the same time, which was the most common usage pattern among e-cigarette users, was far more dangerous than using either product alone.
"Most adults who use e-cigarettes continue to smoke cigarettes," said senior author Stanton Glantz, Ph.D., professor of medicine at UCSF and director of its Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.
"While people may think they are reducing their health risks, we found that the heart attack risk of e-cigarettes adds to the risk of smoking cigarettes," Glantz said. "Using both products at the same time is worse than using either one separately. Someone who continues to smoke daily while using e-cigarettes daily increases the odds of a heart attack by a factor of five."
On the flip side, the study offered some good news for those who quit both traditional cigarettes and e-cigarettes.
"The risk of heart attack starts to drop immediately after you stop smoking," Glantz said. "Our results suggest the same is true when they stop using e-cigarettes."
Source: American Academy of Family Physicians: aafp.org